The issue here is that the Trust gives licences to hunts to go ‘trail hunting’ on their land. What is ‘trail hunting’? According to the hunts, the hunt and hounds ‘follow a trail’ for their day’s sport. There is actually already a sport where this is done – it’s called ‘drag hunting’, and has been around for centuries. So what’s the difference between the two?

The difference is that drag hunting involves hounds which are trained to follow an artificial scent, and reports of the dogs actually catching a wild mammal are very rare. When trail hunting was invented – after hunting was made illegal – it was declared that their hounds would still be trained to follow animal scents. Because of this, the number of times ‘trail’ hunts catch foxes, deer and hares has been too many to count. The hunts claim these are ‘accidents’, but how many accidents does it take before it becomes suspicious? Back in 2011, Judge Michael Pert QC accused the Fernie Hunt of using the cover of trail hunting “as a cynical subterfuge”.

The evidence has stacked up. Since the ban on hunting came in, hunt monitors reported on over 4000 alleged trail hunts over the course of 10 years, and believe they may have witnessed a genuine ‘trail hunting’ event, rather than a fake one, on only an average of around 0.04% of those occasions.

This is why so many people, including myself, believe that trail hunting equals the chasing and killing of wild animals.

The National Trust has now changed some of the details of the licences they give to hunts, but the changes don’t go far enough. Hunts would still be able to find a way to kill animals on NT land – the only way to be sure is to ban them completely.

And if that happens, and I sorely hope it does, the National Trust must then step up and make sure they protect their land by monitoring the hunts properly – and punishing any trespass onto their land. Unfortunately at present the NT don’t have a great record on this – footage from the League Against Cruel Sports shows a stag hunt repeatedly trespassing on NT land, without a licence, but the Trust have done nothing about it.

I’m not a politician, I’m a conservationist. My opposition to unsustainable bird shooting and the illegal persecution of raptors has led to a lot of personal attacks on me. I’ve been called an ‘extremist’ – but that’s a tactic designed to put me in a bad light. I’m not an extremist – 84% of the public share my view that fox hunting should remain banned. Are we all extremists in the eyes of the hunters?

The idea that in the 21st century it's appropriate to charge around the countryside tearing animals to pieces with dogs is wrong, pure and simple.

It’s up to us, the government, and organisations like the National Trust, to protect our animals, for now and future generations. National Trust members can start that process right now by voting for the ban on hunting. Your grandchildren will thank you for it.

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Positive measures to protect animals have been announced by the government today. The Animal Welfare Bill 2018 includes an increase in sentencing for animal abuse from a maximum of six months jail to five years, and also states that animal sentience must be recognised in any future laws.

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Positive measures to protect animals have been announced by the government today. The Animal Welfare Bill 2018 includes an increase in sentencing for animal abuse from a maximum of six months jail to five years, and also states that animal sentience must be recognised in any future laws.

This blog post corrects many errors published in a December 2017 Metro’s article about fox hunting, in which it confuses trail hunting, drag hunting and clean boot hunting. The post sets the record straight regarding recent incidents of hunt violence and intimidation, and rebukes some of the mistruths perpetuated by the pro-hunt lobby.

Wildlife crime, including the chasing and killing of animals using loopholes in the law, came under the microscope when the League Against Cruel Sports joined forces with the police at a prestigious conference this weekend.

A county council in West Sussex has banned new tenants from using cruel and indiscriminate snares to capture live animals on its land. The ban came into force this summer and is attracting interest from other councils across the UK.

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As a team, we share the same passion – to stop animal cruelty in the name of sport. We are a tight knit team and we work hard within a fun, relaxed environment. We also offer something many employers don’t – an office full of friendly dogs!

Hunting was banned in England and Wales in 2004, but the law has never been properly enforced, and attempts to weaken or repeal it continue. The hunting law in Scotland is weak, and hunting is still legal in Northern Ireland.

Hurting and killing animals for ‘sport’ is one of the principal causes of animal cruelty in the UK: tens of millions suffer and die each year for ‘leisure’ activities. We’re here to protect those animals.

Bullfighting is perhaps the most well known spectator “sport” involving the killing of animals for entertainment. It has already been banned in most countries, but each year tens of thousands of bulls are maimed, tortured and killed for entertainment in Spain, Portugal, France, Colombia, Mexico, USA, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru.

The hidden side of greyhound racing includes dogs kept for long periods in lonely kennels, painful injuries from racing and training, illness and neglect. Shockingly, thousands of surplus dogs die or disappear every year. The League believes dogs should not suffer or die for entertainment or for the profit of the dog racing industry.

The Hunting Act 2004 is the law which bans chasing wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales – this basically means that fox hunting, deer hunting, hare hunting, hare coursing and mink hunting are all illegal, as they all are cruel sports based on dogs chasing wild mammals.